ARMING ROGUE REGIMES & TERRORISTSFOCUS OF HELSINKI COMMISSION HEARING

Who Gave What to Whom?

(Washington) - The United States Helsinki Commission will hold a hearing to determine which participating States of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have supplied arms to rogue regimes, including violations of non-proliferation obligations.

Arming Rogue Regimes: the Role of OSCE Participating States
10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
Thursday, June 5, 2003
334 Cannon House Office Building

Testifying:
John Robert Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International SecurityRoman Kupchinsky, Editor, Crime and Corruption Watch, Radio Free Europe/Radio LibertyTerrence Taylor, President and Executive Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies-US

This hearing will examine to what extent OSCE participating States have complied with international non-proliferation commitments or otherwise been involved in the transfer of arms or military materiels and training to rogue regimes, including Iraq, North Korea and Iran.

Particular focus will be given to those countries where there is cause to believe that the government may actually be actively involved in the proliferation of weapons and related equipment.

The hearing will focus on media reports on illicit arms proliferation from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria and the Balkans. The nature and extent of the problem differs in each country, as has the response to revelations of illicit deals by OSCE participating States.

An un-official transcript will be available on the Helsinki Commission’s Internet web site at http://www.csce.gov within 24 hours of the hearing.

The United States Helsinki Commission, an independent federal agency, by law monitors and encourages progress in implementing provisions of the Helsinki Accords. The Commission, created in 1976, is composed of nine Senators, nine Representatives and one official each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.